VII KFG – 7th Krakow Mountain Film Festival.

The 7th Krakow Mountain Festival (KFG) starts in a month (4-6 December 2009). As always, the most important part of the festival are guests and mountain films.

We have already written a bit about our guests. Let’s just remind you that among this year’s foreign climbing stars are Patxi Usobiaga – the world master of onsight (the Basque will also conduct climbing workshops,), Tommy Caldwell – the leader of free ascents on El Capitan, (Usobiaga and Caldwell will deliver their presentations on Saturday, December 5) and Rafał Sławiński – one of the most renowned mixed and ice climbers (his presentation will take place on December 6).

The Polish climbing scene will be represented, among others, by our best Himalayan climber Kinga Baranowska. There will be also other Polish climbers – both bigwall and sport. The full list of Polish guests will be published soon…

Traditionally, the highlight of 7th KFG will be films. Of course, there will be the well established film events. First of all, the Polish mountain film contest Grand Prix KFG 2009*, which is a unique opportunity for young filmakers to present their pictures and also to confront their skills with more experienced masters. Secondly, we will have another dose of films from the Banff Mountain Film Festival – one of the most distinguished mountain film festivals in the world.

On Friday evening (4 December) we will watch some special screenings: a feature film Nordwand, directed by Philipp Stölzl and a documentary tribute to the 100th anniversary of the Tatra Mountain Rescue Service, directed by Anna Maria Filipow, titled Na każde wezwanie Naczelnika (review). For those still not unsatisfied, we have a film block “On Rock and Ice” which consists of four films: Ice, Anarchy, and the Pursuit of Madness (direction Steve House), Grit Flick – Slab and Crack (direction Alastair Lee), Huber Brothers in Antarctica (direction Max Reichel), Sharp End (direction Peter Mortimer).

KFG cannot exist without the prestigious “Jedynka” award, which is given in recognition of exceptional achievements in alpinism and sport climbing.

In the previous years, a proper dose of adrenaline was ensured by “Jumping to a hold” competitions. However, this year the event will be taken over by boulderers who will compete in the Finals of Polish Bouldering Cup (Sunday, December 6). Most probably there will be lots of emotions…

Traditionally, during this year’s edition of KFG, there will be many lectures and workshops on safety in mountaineering and climbing, and also – similarly to the last year – freeride workshops.

The segment “Safe Mountains” will be conducted by the representatives of the Tatra Mountain Rescue: Jakub Jasiński, Marcin Józefowicz and Andrzej Maciata. The workshops “Safety in the mountains: how to survive an unexpected bivy…” will be led by Wladek Niemiec – an instructor of the Polish Association of Alpinism and Tomek Nodzyński – a Tatra guide. The lectures will be accompanied by avalanche courses and first aid trainings.

Additionally, as usual, there will be also a chance to visit Outdoor Garment and Equipment Fair.

This is just a preliminary outline of the Festival’s timetable. The detailed KFG 2009 programme can be found on the organizer’s website (caution: the programme is evolving all the time).